Celebreality

A History of Celebrity Reality Shows

From the reality genre’s early days of MTV's Real World, to, well, almost any reality concept you can think of, reality shows have run the gamut. Following the success of shows like The Osbournes and Newlyweds, TV execs realized that viewers wanted a closer glimpse into the life of celebrities. VH1 came to term this “Celebreality,” and has cornered the market on the real world of celebs.

VH1’s Celebreality Concept

Though VH1 did not originate the idea of celebrity reality shows, they have made a big business of the genre. Viacom, who owns subsidiary VH1, applied for trademark registration of the word “celebreality” in 2004. They now use the word to describe their block of reality shows.

Incidentally, celebreality shows have brought VH1 much success. The finale of Flavor of Love brought the network six million viewers--more than any other show in the network’s history!

VH1 Celebrity Shows

Gary Busey competed in season two of Celebrity Fit Club

The beauty of the celebrity reality show concept is that the shows only include five to ten episodes each, so it’s easy to churn out numerous seasons of a series over a very short amount of time.

It all began when VH1 took over The Surreal Life from The WB. The show premiered on VH1 in its fourth season in January 2005. The first installment of Celebrity Fit Club also got its start in 2005, as well as The Surreal Life spin-off, Strange Love, which followed Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen’s relationship.

Season two began in July 2005, with the next edition of The Surreal Life and the second showing of Celebrity Fit Club. Hogan Knows Best, following Hulk Hogan and his family, also premiered at this time.

Breaking Bonaduce, chronicling the life and sometimes hard times of former Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce, began in September 2005. My Fair Brady began as well, a spin-off from The Surreal Life that showed the budding relationship of Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry. Each of these shows enjoyed a second season.

The five-episode show, But Can They Sing, highlighted celebrities who showed off their singing chops.

2006 Celebrity Reality

In January 2006, VH1 continued with the success of the established show Celebrity Fit Club in its third season. Flavor of Love, Flavor Flav’s dating competition, made its debut as well.

When these two shows finished their 10 episodes, the sixth season of The Surreal Life and the second season of Hogan Knows Best started in March 2006.

In May, My Fair Brady came back for another round, further exploring the wacky May/December romance of Adrianne and Christopher.

August 2006 brought the second season of Flavor of Love and the fourth season of Celebrity Fit Club.

In October 2006, Breaking Bonaduce and Hogan Knows Best started up again. A new series, Celebrity Paranormal Project, put celebrities in contact with ghosts and other scary experiments.

Verne Troyer returns for The Surreal Life Fame Games

VH1’s 2007 Lineup

January 2007 will kick off the next crop of celebreality, premiering the “all-star” version of The Surreal Life, called The Surreal Life Fame Games. Former Surreal Life houseguests will compete for a $100,000 prize.

A spin-off of Flavor of Love, called I Love New York, will have bachelors vying for the love of Flavor’s twice rejected bachelorette “New York.”

The Springer Hustle will look at what goes into booking the sometimes bizarre guests on The Jerry Springer Show.

Other Celebrity Reality Shows

In addition to The Osbournes, Newlyweds, The Anna Nicole Show, and the other shows mentioned in VH1’s lineup above, there have been a number of past, present, and future celebreality shows, including:

• I’m a Celebrity... Get me Out of Here
• Celebrity Fear Factor
• Tommy Lee Goes to College
• Chaotic
• Dancing with the Stars
• Skating with the Stars
• Celebrity Duets
• The Simple Life
• The Girls Next Door
• The Carters
• Gene Simmons' Family Jewels
• Armed and Famous